FDA's ridiculous pursuit of spirit distillers, who tried to help the public during COVID — is indicative of a larger problem

20 August 2022

If I'm too incompetent to do anything worthwhile . . .

. . . I'll do something stupid just to harass you?

Remember how American spirits distillers stepped in to help Americans cope with the COVID pandemic by diverting some of their resources into producing hand sanitizer?

I thought that was a good example of small American capitalism's resilience and its ability to contribute to the greater good. Made me darn proud of my fellow (ordinary) Americans.

But the FDA did not feel the same way.

Instead, those meddling Government Monkeys decided to step in — post facto — and make an issue of out of pretty much nothing. Based on no evidence. And so long after the fact as to be essentially useless.

In June 2021, Aaron Bergh of Calwise Spirits (Paso Robles, California):

received an unexpected letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informing him that a sample of his sanitizer taken in December 2020 exceeded temporary limits of two impurities and demanding extensive records of his production and distribution.

Rebecca Harris, president of the American Craft Spirits Association, says that at least 11 distillers in nine states have received similar letters from the FDA. At primary issue is acetaldehyde, a chemical that occurs naturally in fruits and dairy products, as well as in beer, wine, and spirits.

The FDA sets limits on its presence in hand sanitizer at 50 parts per million (ppm).

The sample from Bergh's distillery tested at 160 ppm and 167 ppm of acetaldehyde and acetal, respectively.

Jacob Grier at Reason looked into the background to all this

He found that at least 11 other distillers had received similar letters — similarly delayed in exercising even hypothetical public health effectiveness.

Grier also discovered that the FDA was simply making 'shit' up. The agency's 50 ppm standard was based on nothing substantive:

Todd Pencarinha and Mark Myers of Altiras Chemicals compiled a report synthesizing existing research on the presence of acetaldehyde in foods and drinks, workplace exposure in the air, and absorption via the skin.

They concluded that "hand sanitizer manufactured with ethanol containing 1000 ppm acetaldehyde exposes consumers to a far lower acetaldehyde dose than many common acceptable foods, beverages, and occupational activities, and therefore 1000 ppm is a reasonable limit."

The FDA acknowledged in a recall notice from October 2021 that "the exact risk from using hand sanitizer containing benzene, acetaldehyde, or acetal is unknown."

Think about the FDA's foolishly skewed prioritization

At the time that American distillers stepped in to aid the public in getting hand sanitizer, American Public Health thought (based on almost no evidence) that SARS-CoV-2 could be easily communicated by hand and from surfaces.

Furthermore, Government had intentionally — and again based on no investigative evidence — led the public to believe that COVID was pretty darn deadly for presumably large swaths of us.

Now if both those conditions were accurately drawn, why would anyone be worrying about a properly disinfecting hand sanitizer that contained probably near-harmless quantities of an uninvestigated substance or two?

Do you see the problem?

A supposed health agency that cannot do the most basic survival prioritizations — according to even its own risk rankings.

What is one to make of this Government-sponsored harassment?

How about accepting the repeatedly COVID-proven demonstration that American Public Health was a menace — rather than an aid — during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, due to:

(a) its glaring wall-to-wall incompetence

and

(b) its absolute refusal to properly investigate anything at all?

If you plug 'COVID' or SARS-CoV-2' into the search box to this page's left, you will come across examples of these effusively exhibited traits.

The hand sanitizer example is yet another instance of American Government's intrusive stupidity:

Whatever the propriety of the FDA's 50 ppm standard, the year-and-a-half gap between taking samples and notifying distillers of noncompliance raises questions about the agency's enforcement priorities.

If the standard is unreasonably low, then it is imposing costs on distillers for no real benefit.

If the standard protects against a real danger, then the action has come far too late to protect consumers.

Societally speaking — there is a larger issue

What happens when American Government deliberately throttles small and initiative-demonstrating US manufacturers — like many of the above spirits distillers — in favor of corporate behemoths?

The result is Larry Romanoff's society-wide conclusion that:

Americans boast incessantly about their competitiveness and the miracles of their predatory capitalist system, but on examination these claims appear to be mostly thoughtless jingoism that transmutes historical accidents into religion.

If we examine the record, US companies have seldom been notably competitive. There is more than abundant evidence that their efforts are mostly directed to ensure an asymmetric playing field that permitted them to avoid confronting real competition.

And, in very large part, major US corporations have succeeded not because of any competitive advantage but by pressure and threats emanating from the State Department and military.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman stated the truth quite accurately when he wrote, “The hidden hand of the market will never work without the hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas.”

Romanoff's essay is excellent. I recommend that the notably thoughtful among you read it.

The moral? — When ordinary Americans step up (and in) to help each other . . .

. . . US Government stamps them out.

PeteFree.com

FDA's ridiculous pursuit of spirit distillers, who tried to help the public during COVID — is indicative of a larger problem